Exclusive I-Team series examines Wisconsin's Indian casino industry

Feb. 14, 2014

This artist's rendering provided by The Menominee Nation shows the tribe's proposed casino at the site of the former Dairyland Greyhound Dog Track in Kenosha. / AP Photo/The Menominee Nation via The Kenosha News

INSIDE THE I-TEAM | JOHN FERAK

Wisconsin Public Radio to feature I-Team casino report

The Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team series Doubling Down: The Great Divide in Indian Gaming will be discussed on an upcoming segment of Wisconsin Public Radio’s Central Time talk show, hosted by Rob Ferrett and Veronica Rueckert. I-Team reporter Katie Foody will appear on Central Time from 5 to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24. Foody will give an overview of the I-Team series, and talk about how casinos benefit some tribes but not others, the health-care clinics that casinos help fund and the future of Indian casinos in Wisconsin.

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Like it or not, Wisconsin’s Indian casinos have evolved into a key fabric of our state’s entertainment culture.

Casinos dot our landscape in major cities such as Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay. They’re also a fixture in many of our state’s less-populated areas including Keshena, Nekoosa and the Northwoods.

The casino industry generates more than $1 billion in revenue annually for Wisconsin’s Indian tribes. Casinos are major employers in the areas they serve.

So has it been a good ride for Wisconsin? What impact has casino money made for the tribes? And what does the future of the casino industry hold?

Starting next Sunday, the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team will publish a special report: “Doubling Down: The Great Divide in Indian Gaming.”

Seven in-depth stories will appear in each of our 10 daily Gannett Wisconsin Media newspapers between Sunday, Feb. 23 and Sunday, March 9. You can follow the entire series in print, on mobile and by tablet at htrnews.com/DoublingDown.

The timing of our series couldn’t be more relevant. Gov. Scott Walker continues to weigh a contentious plan by the Menominee Tribe to put a new casino at the shuttered dog track in Kenosha.

Melinda Otto, executive director of the Forest County Chamber of Commerce, fears that a new casino in Kenosha would cause tremendous economic distress across her Northwoods region because the Potawatomi tribe is the biggest employer in her county.

“There is such a thing as saturating a market,” Otto said. “A Kenosha casino would definitely affect every existing casino.”

In Forest County, both the Mole Lake Casino & Lodge south of Crandon and the Potawatomi Casino and Hotel in Carter have made a positive impact on everyday life, she said.

“It’s definitely been a plus for tourism,” Otto said last week.

Our Indian casino I-Team series came together because of excellent teamwork and collaboration across Gannett Wisconsin Media and a partnership with the Madison-based Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

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Gannett Wisconsin Media I-Team reporter Katie Foody, based in Wausau, spearheaded the reporting for the casino series. One of Foody’s stories compares the per capita payments that are common within some of Wisconsin’s tribes. Tribes disagree on the pros and cons of the program.

Andy Thompson of Post-Crescent Media produced a story outlining the history behind Wisconsin’s Indian casinos and why we have them.

Complimenting their extensive reporting, Press-Gazette Media photojournalist Lukas Keapproth and videographer Kyle Bursaw spent several weeks this winter traveling to different corners of Wisconsin to produce photos and videos for the I-Team series.

Bill Lueders of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism produced a key story that explains how one tribe has managed to operate several of Wisconsin’s most successful gaming operations.

“The rise of tribal gambling operations has led to remarkable changes in the economic and social fabric of Native American life in Wisconsin,” said Andy Hall, executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. “The Center is proud to be part of this effort by Gannett Wisconsin Media to help the public understand how the impact of gambling varies from tribe to tribe across the state.”

Informative. Thorough. Interesting.

Doubling Down: The Great Divide in Indian Gaming is another shining example of exclusive content and statewide investigative journalism that you won’t find anywhere else.